Gay rights hasn’t been an issue in the presidential campaign, and that’s good. “On gay issues, silence is golden,” says Jonathan Capehart, a Washington Post editorial writer. As recently as during the 2004 election, you may recall, Republicans put gay-rights measures on state ballots to draw out voters who would favor George W. Bush over John Kerry. “We’re not the punching bags we were two elections ago,” Capehart says. The tide is turning.

Some credit for this belongs to corporate America, which has over the last two decades embraced the gay community. Capehart made his remarks during a panel discussion at the 2012 Out & Equal Workplace Summit, a gathering of LGBT people in the business world. Out & Equal, an advocacy group, champions workplace equality, in part because changes in the workplace become a catalyst for broader cultural changes. [click to continue…]